Durban physiotherapist, Sumeshen Moodley shared these stretches to help ease neck and back stiffness and spasm.
Many people have battled with these kinds of aches and pains during the lockdown.
Here are his tips:
For your neck:
Take your left arm over the back of your right shoulder. Slide your right palm down your back. Keeping the arms crossed over, move your hand up and down seven times with elbows moving up to nose level and back down.
Stretch the same as the picture above, but with your right palm pushing your left shoulder forward, thus enhancing the stretch. For your back:
Place your hand on your head, pulling the chin into your shoulder. Place the opposite hand behind you and and pull the opposite shoulder down. This increases the stretch in your neck muscles. For your neck:
Place your hand on the side of your head and pull your ear into your shoulder. Hold the opposite hand out to the side at a 45-degree angle.
- Heat therapy: place a heat bag on the painful area.
- Stretching: a series of neck and back stretches. Hold each stretch for 15 to 20 seconds, do two to five times at regular periods throughout the day.
- Foam rolling: use a roller to give yourself a massage.
- Ice therapy: in some cases, ice is more applicable than heat.
- Strengthening exercise: the correct strengthening exercises can prevent injury.
- Visit a physiotherapist to prevent worse conditions from occurring. Get correctly diagnosed so you can get the right treatment.
Moodley recently returned to Durban after heading the medical team for IPL franchise Delhi Capitals and India’s Olympic athletes. He provides physiotherapy to the general population of Durban.